Napa
River overflowed and flooded the entire
downtown area and thousands of acres all over Napa County. More than 4,000
residents were evacuated and 1,000 homes were flooded or destroyed. The
flood of 12/31/05 was the 23rd serious flood on the Napa River on record since

History

The name Napa was probably derived from the name given to a southern
Nappan (meaning "Fairy Valley") Indian Village whose people shared the area
with elk, deer, grizzlies and panthers for many centuries. At the time of the
first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the population consisted
of hundreds of Indians. Padre Jose Altimura, founder of the mission at Sonoma,
led the expedition. Spanish and Mexican control remained until the Bear Flag Revolt, and the valley became one of the first in California to
be settled by American farmers, who started arriving in the 1830s.

When California was granted statehood in 1849, Napa Valley was in the
Territory of California, District of Sonoma. In 1850 when counties were first
organized, Napa became one of the original counties of California, and in 1851
the first courthouse was erected. By 1870 most of the Indians who had
inhabited the valley were wiped out by smallpox and other diseases brought by
white settlers. The few that remained finally were taken into
Alexander Valley, where a few descendants now reside on government
reservations.

The City of Napa was founded by Nathan Coombs in 1847. The townsite was
surveyed by James M. Hudspeth on property Coombs had received from Nicolas
Higuerra, holder of the original Spanish Grant. The first business
establishment in the town was a saloon built by Harrison Pierce a former
miller at the

Bale Grist Mill. Napa's first general store was opened a year later in
1848 by Joseph P. Thompson. By 1850 the Dophin became the first steamship to
navigate the Napa River in order to open another path of commerce.

In the mid 1850s, Napa Main Street rivaled that of many larger cities, with
as many as 100 saddle horses tied to the fences on an average afternoon.
Hotels were crowded, cash slugs and California coinage were plentiful. Saloons
and gambling emporiums were numerous, but culture had also made its debut. The

Lyceum movement established a facility and reading room and an
agricultural society was started. Two newspapers began publication in the
1850s. The Napa Valley Register made its debut in 1853 and Alexander J. Cox
published the Napa County Reporter for the first time on July 4, 1856.

It was the gold rush of the late 1850s that really built Napa City. After
the first severe winter in the gold fields, miners sought refuge in the young
city from snow, cold, floods and disease. A tent city was erected along Main
Street. There was plenty of work in the valley for disillusioned miners. Many
cattle ranches were maintained, and the lumber industry had mushroomed.
Sawmills in the valley were in operation cutting up timber that was hauled by
team to Napa City, then shipped out on the river to

In 1858 the great silver rush began in Napa Valley, and miners eagerly
flocked to the eastern hills. In the 1860s, mining carried on, in a large
scale, with quicksilver mines operating in many areas of Napa County. The most
noted mine was the Silverado Mine, near the summit of

Napa had become the primary business and economic center for the Napa
Valley by the dawn of the 20th century. As agricultural and wine interests
developed north of the city limits much of the light industry, banking,
commercial and retail activity in the county evolved within the city of Napa
and in earlier times along the Napa River through the historic downtown. Napa
Glove Factory was established in 1903 and was the largest plant of its kind
west of

Chicago.
In 1915 Edwin Pridham and Peter L. Jensen invented the moving-coil loudspeaker
in their Napa workshop while working on an improvement for the telephone
receiver. Pridham and Jensen went on to found the Magnavox
Company in 1917

Even today the bulk of the county popula

tion lives in the City of Napa. The
active economic development program has continued to support the wine and
agricultural activities of the Valley to this day.

There were 26,978 households out of which 32.9% had children under the age
of 18 living with them, 50.7% were

married
couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband
present, and 33.5% were non-families. 26.8% of all households were made up of
individuals and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or
older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was
3.20.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18,
8.5% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who
were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100
females there were 96.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
were 93.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $49,154, and the median
income for a family was $58,788. Males had a median income of $41,046 versus
$31,334 for females. The

per capita income for the city was $23,642. About 6.1% of families and
8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age
65 or over.